Slug porn

Edison and I went outside to water plants after work tonight.  Justin is out of town, so I snapped a quick picture with my phone to send to him.  It's something we do to make it easier to be gone.

And then I spotted two enormous slugs on the wall behind the fountain.  I hate slugs.  So I sent Justin this picture with a message "Slugs :("  I held up my finger for size.

I left and played with Edison for a couple minutes.  When I went back to check on the slugs (I wanted to make sure they hadn't moved - I do the same thing with spiders) I found that they were now wrestling.  I sent Justin this picture with a message of "Giant ball of nasty."

I left to play with Edison for a couple more minutes.  When I went back to the slugs this time, I immediately did the silent scream.  For a long time.  I sent Justin this picture with the message of "I don't know what's happening but I don't like it."

After that I couldn't tear myself away.  I was convinced that transparent thing, which was writhing (silent scream) and growing (silent scream) and even pulsating (silent scream), was going to fall off and become another slug.  I did manage to leave the horror show long enough to grab the video camera.

After I put Edison to bed tonight and got the house picked up, I started googling the mating habits of slugs.  I have spent about an hour now reading and watching slug porn.  It's fascinating.  Here is what I have learned.  These particular slugs are leopard slugs and they mate differently than all other slugs.  They are hermaphrodites and fertilize one another in a mating ritual that lasts anywhere from 1-5 hours.  First they leave a slime trail laden with chemicals to indicate they are in heat.  Once they find each other, they spend hours circling and licking each other. After this, they lower themselves on a thick string of mucus, protrude their penises (which are bioluminescent), entwine them, and exchange sperm.  If the slugs are not the same size, it is common for one or both penises to get stuck, at which point the other slug chews it off to become separated.  Thankfully these guys didn't do that last part.

I am still horrified by what I saw, but it was pretty cool at the same time.  I guess it's pretty rare to actually see it happen. It takes two years for a leopard slug to reach sexual maturity and then its average life span is only 2.5 years.  Plus they normally mate in the middle of the night.

So there you have it.  Slug porn.  You're welcome.

And now here is a video of Edison to help you get over what you just saw.